The beer sank into the frozen Irtysh River, in the Omsk region, late last month when a truck delivering the load broke through the ice."The driver and a passenger managed to escape as the ice gave way, but the vehicle and the beer sank to cold storage, where it remained for the next 24 days."

Authorities decided to recover the truck and its cargo because they feared it could become a hazard for shipping when the river thaws in spring.

"So a huge operation was launched," the paper said. Divers first retrieved the beer, then the tank was used to pull the truck out of the river. "The truck eased slowly out of the water, but then the towing rope broke and it slipped back in." One diver was injured when his mask came off in the freezing water.

But the paper quoted the brewer, Omsk-based Rosor, as saying that the "beer is good enough to be sold, if at a discount".